The Blonde, the Pink, and the Fluffy
by roguespirit
Summary: After learning it's Yukari's birthday and no gift to give her, Erwin hurries to try and sew one for her; unfortunately, Erwin isn't very good at sewing. She may however provide Yukari with a more valuable gift.
1. Selfishness and Loneliness

The sun shone brightly over the Oarai school ship as Erwin made her way back home burdened with heavy shopping bags. Her latest excursion to the military surplus market had been a success and she was insufferably pleased with herself.

Getting there early she was able to get a bandolier to go with her Afrika Korps uniform, the final piece she had needed to complete it, at least in her mind. In addition, she acquired a Polish army helmet, a large set of unit patches to add to her already substantial collection, and a 1915 French Army shell casing.

Erwin was grinning from ear to ear, the weight of her purchases not bothering her in the least; although, that might have been due to how much lighter her wallet was now. She was flat broke until the end of the month when she would get her living allowance. If her parents found out about this she would get scolded again.

"I'm not an impulse buyer" she told herself. "I thought carefully about everything and had to make a lot of sacrifices." She sighed heavily, wishing she could have afforded the Fallschirmjäger uniform that had been for sale but it had been well outside her budget. She have had to save up for over a year to have afforded it. "Oh well."

As she walked back to the small house she shared with the other three members of the history team, she realized just how empty the ship could be when it arrived in port, especially now that summer break had begun. Most of the students were off ship shopping, as she had been; gone home for summer break, or had gone on a vacation trip. Erwin had visited her family last time and they were off on business for a while so she couldn't visit them anyway.

As she passed by the school grounds, she heard a commotion. The pitch of the voices sounded familiar and her mind quickly made the connection to the Rabbit team. What were they up to?

Rounding the corner and peering through the bars of the fence, she spotted several students in the courtyard. Setting her shopping bags down she reached inside the pocket of her coat and retrieved a pair of binoculars. Peering through them, she focused in on the small gathering of students.

She spotted the members of Rabbit team alright, just as she had suspected. All of them were carrying colourfully wrapped boxes, adorned with pretty ribbons. They had half surrounded Yukari who seemed a bit bewildered by the attention.

'What's going on?' Erwin wondered. She doubted the freshman would bully Yukari, but why did they have those colourful packages? Were they gifts? For Yukari? Was it her birthday?

Erwin felt a lump rise in her throat as the freshman handed their gifts to their senpai, watching the Anglerfish team loader grimace as her arms became loaded with a precariously stacked tower of festive packages, struggling to keep them from teetering too far.

Erwin started to feel the weight of her purchases again, even though she wasn't carrying them. They were nearly as numerous as those colourful packages, but they were full of things she had bought for herself.

Erwin's shoulders sagged as she was filled with a huge sense of self loathing and guilt. She hadn't even known that one of her friend's birthdays was today and she had gone and spent all of her money that very same day on stuff for only for herself. Maybe it wasn't too late though; maybe there was something in her purchases that she could repurpose as a gift for Yukari!

Frantically she began searching through her bags, trolling through her collection of patches and uniform pieces to try and find something that would be adequate as a birthday gift, but nothing seemed adequate. She looked through her other bags but they were all full of things she dearly didn't want to give away, many of them had been rare finds.

Sighing, Erwin leaned her back against the fence. She realized she was committing a wrong. "Use an attack to exploit a victory, never attack to salvage a defeat." She recited. She wasn't sure if the quote came from Tsun Tzu or someone else but it seemed apt to her.

In moral terms, giving someone else something that she had originally bought for herself seemed rather thoughtless. People always said that it was the thought that counted with a gift, not its monetary value, and Erwin hadn't put any thought of Yukari into those items, they had all been for her.

"So what do I do?" She mumbled to herself. She refused to let the day pass without providing a gift for her friend, her own pride wouldn't permit it; that still left the question of what to do. She had virtually no spending money left and wouldn't get more for several days and she couldn't barter for anything that Yukari would want, not on this ship. That left one solution to Erwin's mind: she would have to make a gift herself.

She leaned her head back against the fence, looking up at the sky as if to ask the passing clouds what kind of gift she could possibly make from scratch with her limited skills, and what kind of gift should she make anyway?

Erwin's gaze fell back upon her bags of military memorabilia, staring at them to try and perhaps get an idea of something she would actually be able to make with what limited materials were at home. What a cruel irony it was that she had bags full of things her friend would love but she could give her none of it.

When her gaze focused on the bag of unit patches, she felt a gentle prodding in the corner of her mind. Something about those patches was calling to her, trying to inspire her. She reached into the bag and pulled out a small handful, staring at them.

The patches he had bought were from a variety of different armies, unit types and even ages. They were sometimes circular in shape or cut in a half circle, meant to be sewn onto the shoulder sleeves. ' _Hmmmm sewn…_.'

Erwin's thumb gently brushed the patches she held, passing over the images and letterings on them, created by sewing coloured thread or cutting fabric into various shapes before sewing them together. Suddenly the proverbial lightbulb lit up in her mind.

"That's it!" She leapt from her kneeling position to standing up straight and tall, excited with the discovery of what she believed to be the solution to her dilemma. "I'll make Guderian an anglerfish patch!" The idea seemed so simple, so obvious. It brought the question to her mind why they hadn't thought of doing uniform patches for the various tank teams before!

Erwin picked up her bags and hurried home, suddenly feeling very motivated again. She had made a mistake, but there was still a chance for her to salvage the situation.

Yukari grunted softly as she tried to balance the stack of presents on one hand while using the other hand to open the door to her family's barber shop. The packages teetered precariously as she struggled to balance them against the forces of the wind and her own movements while she opened the door.

She had to duck almost to a squatting position to fit under the door with the packages but managed to make it inside without incident, placing the stack on the floor of the shop and shutting the door behind her.

Looking around, the shop appeared deserted. Neither of her parents were to be seen, unusual for them. Normally they would sit facing the door on their stools, her father reading and her mother would sit and… well Yukari actually wasn't sure what she did. She just seemed to sit there, with her eyes closed, perhaps sleeping or simply contemplating. Even to Yukari, her mother's own child, it seemed strange. She herself would never be able to do that, she would be too bored and restless.

"Where are they?" She mumbled to herself. It was unusual for the shop to be open with nobody to watch it. Her parents were normally so diligent about that. Well, it wasn't like they were a very busy business most days anyway, especially during the summer months when most of the student body left for home. Maybe it was alright.

Yukari picked up the packages again and carried them off to the shop storeroom, tucking them behind a tall stack of cardboard boxes, out of sight. She walked back out of the storeroom and almost bumped into her father.

"Oh Yukari. You're home already?" Yukari swallowed and forced a smile.

"Y-yeah, well various things happened. Uh, I'll be in my room." She hurried past him and ran up the stairs, leaving her bewildered father behind.

Yukari stepped into her room and flopped face-first onto her bed, feeling drained and discontented. Her body felt like she had just gone through a heavy workout but in fact she hadn't done her daily exercise routine yet, and she certainly wasn't feeling up to it now.

She had gone to the tank sheds today to try and find some of her teammates who hadn't left for the summer, hoping to at least find the hard working auto club working on their tanks, but no such luck.

Leopon team had left yesterday to take their car to an autocross competition, the rest of Anglerfish team had gone home to see their families, history team seemed to have done the same because nobody had been home when she'd gone there. The only ones she had met were the members of Rabbit team who offloaded all of those packages onto her before running off with their own plans.

Yukari groaned and rolled onto her back. She had spent most of her life without the company of friends, of close companions she had come to hold dearly. It had been lonely but she had adapted; and yet, right now, without those people for only a day or two, she suddenly felt extremely lonely, more than she had in a long time.

"Lady Nishizumi would be disappointed with me." She mumbled mournfully to herself. Saying that though, she started to miss the girl she idolized even more.

"Yukari?" She bolted upright, sitting up straight on her bed as he her mother passed through the curtains over her doorway. She wore a white blouse and a long black skirt; she must have been out shopping.

She looked at Yukari with modest concern, not moving any closer, simply standing where she was, looking at her. Yukari made sure she smiled; she didn't want her mother to fret over her.

Her mother saw her smile but her face still bent into a frown. Yukari had never been able to fool her mother; she could read her like a pamphlet.

"Are you feeling lonely with school out for the summer?" She asked in that gentle motherly voice that Yukari both loved and sometimes dreaded.

"Everyone's gone so we can't have practice. I'm just not used it, that's all." Yukari didn't want to let on that she was lonesome. Her mother worried about her a lot as it was, always worried about her social life, always worried about her emotional well being.

"Well, if there are a few of your friends around, maybe invite them over for dinner tonight. Maybe they're feeling lonely too."

" _I'm not lonely"_ , was what Yukari wanted to say, but she knew she would be lying flat out at this point. She never had anyone over for dinner with her family before; somehow that seemed even more significant than the meals she and the other Anglers had shared together in either Lady Nishizumi or Saori's apartment. The problem with this idea was that she didn't know who was around to call, if there was anyone at all.

"I'll try asking around." She said at last. Even if she couldn't get anyone to come, maybe she would at least calm her mother until then. She'd probably be a little distraught if nobody came, which Yukari thought likely, but she could at least try for her mother's sake, and it seemed to work as she saw her mother smile a little.

"Okay sweetie. Just remember that you'll also be helping someone else by doing this. You can't see the big picture if you focus only on yourself."

Yukari nodded. "I know, I know mother." Her mother chuckled softly and left the room, leaving Yukari all alone once again. Now she had to think of who she could actually call. Even if she was teammates with the others that didn't actually make them friends did it?

She rubbed her face with her hands and then fell onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. "What am I going to do?"

 **Author's notes:**

 **Was originally going to be a one-shot but now it's going to be a multi-chapter fic, my first attempt at one in a while. I'll try to update more reliably with this fic than in the past.**


	2. Erwin Mummy Hands

Chapter 2: Erwin Mummy Hands

Erwin shut the door to the small house she and the other history team members lived in and hurriedly carried her bags up to her room on the second level. She didn't bother putting them away somewhere, she simply put them on the floor for now and set about trying to locate her sewing kit.

Military uniforms of the 20th century onwards frequently had patches and emblems of various kinds sewn on them so Erwin had bought her own sewing kit to enable her to do it herself without her mother's assistance.

She searched through her closet for the small basket that held her sewing kit, but it was such a mess. Clothes were were hanging from virtually everywhere they could be hung, some were simply stuffed into tight spaces when she had run out of coat hangers.

The shelves inside were overflowing with military related items. Everything from knives, to replica guns, non-functional of course; and multiple pairs of marching boots. She suddenly realized that she didn't have any room in her closet to put any of her new purchases.

"Guess I'll have to make room later." She mumbled to herself. "Aha!" She found the small wicker sewing kit tucked on the second highest shelf. She stood up on the tips of her toes to try and reach it, and cursed herself for being as short as she was. ' _Even though I'm more or less average',_ she thought to herself.

Her fingers brushed the handle, she was so close. Just a little closer. Suddenly her chest bumped into something on one of the lower shelves, starting a cascade of falling and tumbling items that swamped over her like an avalanche.

Erwin fell onto her rear, half buried in the items that had fallen off the shelves. "Great, another mess I have to deal with today." The silver lining to the mess was that her sewing kit had fallen as well, bringing it within easy reach.

She grabbed the small wicker basket by the handle and stood up, letting all the items tumble off of her. She would clean up the mess later.

She hurried downstairs and set the kit on the table, then went to the closet where they kept their crafting supplies. They all made outfits from their respective time periods so rather than keep all the supplies to themselves, it was more efficient and less expensive to pool their resources. Right now, Erwin was looking for the package of materials they had bought from the local shops. She knew it had what she needed.

"Found it." She said with a triumphant grin. She pulled out a clear plastic package full of large rectangles of coloured fabric, the top one being a bright pink; exactly what she needed. The package also contained a handful of patterns that could be used to cut out the shapes she needed.

She set it down next to the sewing kit and sat down to begin the process of making this gift for Yukari. It was already past lunch and in her mind she needed to finish by dinner time, but as she started taking supplies out of the sewing kit she started to remember an important fact: she was terrible at sewing.

Her mother always took up the task of sewing things onto her uniforms because Erwin would always end up just stabbing herself multiple times with the sewing needle, and spending so much time getting band-aids that she would never finish. Horrified by what her daughter was doing to herself, her mother always insisted that she be the one to sew everything.

Things hadn't changed much since entering high school either, since both Oryou and Caesar were excellent seamstresses and happy to help their friend out rather than letting her puncture her skin over and over. But they weren't here, and Erwin couldn't wait for them to get back.

' _It's okay',_ she told herself. ' _I'm older now and much more able. I'm sure I can make a simple patch.'_

She opened the package of fabrics and put the pink material off to the side and then reached back in to extracting the patterns. She sifted through them until she found exactly what she was looking for: the pattern to make an anglerfish just like the one emblazoned on their Panzer IV G.

The patterns were drawn onto cardboard which she would first cut out and then use as a kind of stencil to cut the patterns out of the fabric. There were no real instructions, just the image of the pink anglerfish on the package. Still, it didn't look too hard; fairly simple in fact. She could do this.

She took the scissors out of the sewing kit and began to carefully cut the into it. This would be the simple part and despite the care she took in cutting the stencils out as accurately as possible, she finished in a fairly short time. She then used them to cut out the shapes from the fabric, a process that was a bit more difficult but still manageable. Now came the more difficult part.

First, Erwin switch off her phone to ensure no distractions at crucial moments; then she took a spool of pink thread from the sewing kit, a colour she had never used before, and with great care, picked up one of the sewing needles. Now she had to try to literally thread the needle, a task that was difficult for many people but with her difficulty with minute hand movements, it was a real struggle.

Erwin cursed several times under her breath and took precious minutes to try and get the thread through the tiny eye of the needle. Eventually she resorted to putting the needle down at the edge of the table to keep it steady and then after several more tries, managed to thread it at last.

"Finally." She grumbled. It had taken her more than ten minutes just to thread the needle, and that had been the easy part. Now she actually had to sew the pieces of her craft together, and this was usually the part that involved a lot of frustration, swearing and band-aids.

Tentatively Erwin lined the two large pink pieces together that would form the main body of the pink anglerfish, remembering at the last minute to place the piece that would be the fish's lure between the two pieces.

She was able to pierce the fabric with the needle without any real trouble and then tried to go through the other way.

"Ouch!" Erwin dropped the fish and flicked her hand painfully. She stared at her index finger which was now leaking blood from the tiny hole she had poked in it. She let out a heavy sigh and stood up. "I better get the band-aids."

The sun cast long shadows as it began to set, now low enough on the horizon that the street lights began to switch on. Sat on the grass in the shadow of one of the nearby buildings, Yukari stared at her phone with a somber expression. The display on her phone showed her contact list, almost all of it consisting of the tankery team members, and she had reached the end of that list almost an hour ago.

Yukari let out a sigh and rested her head in her hands, her elbows propped onto her legs. She had phoned every member of the tankery team she could sans the Rabbit team and others she already knew weren't available - which was most of them - and had come up more or less empty.

The Anteaters were at something called a 'smash tournament', The Mallard team had politely refused to disclose their location, although Yukari had noted that the background noise sounded very similar to the noise during her call to to the Anteaters.

Yukari admittedly hadn't dared to call the Turtle team; she felt that would be even more awkward. Not only were they her seniors, but they were also the student council. Yukari wasn't _that_ lonely. Hippo team comprised most of her friends outside of Anglerfish, but they were all quite busy.

Oryou had a marriage meeting, which was a surprise but Yukari had managed to avoid making any comments before politely hanging up. Saemonza was with her family visiting Kyoto and Caesar was also visiting family. The background during the call had sounded very festive and busy. She had mentioned that Erwin might be available if she was back from her shopping trip, but for some reason, Yukari hadn't been able to reach her.

It had been as fruitless as she had anticipated. Nobody she had been able to contact was available, either visiting family or on some kind of trip. She had thought about phoning her fellow Anglers just to touch base with them but decided it would be rude to call them and interrupt whatever it was they were doing.

She imagined Lady Nishizumi was busy bonding with her sister, trying to repair the bridge between them that had been damaged during Miho's entry into high school tankery. It warmed her heart knowing they were repairing the relationship but Yukari's current loneliness prevented her from being as happy about it as she could be, and she chided herself for it.

Her mother would be so disappointed, that no guests would be coming. She seemed happy cooking, believing that she would be able to meet and talk with more of her daughter's friends, but it didn't look like that would be happening tonight, but it would at least stave off her own feelings of awkwardness; even so, she felt like she had failed her mother.

The sound of running in the otherwise quiet street caught her attention. She looked in the direction of the noise and to her amazement she saw Erwin running down the sidewalk. What was she doing here?

Yukari was suddenly torn. Should she wave; make her presence known? Should she invite her to dinner here now in person? The thought brought a grimace to her face. Having to invite someone over the phone had been awkward and difficult enough for her, asking someone in person was even worse.

Erwin was almost past her now, still running at a good trot, and Yukari wondered what for and where she was going. Should she really just ask her?

Erwin was past her now, her quick pace taking her rapidly away, and Yukari felt the loneliness from earlier gnaw at her insides. Well, there was no harm in just talking to her was it? Sure she didn't want to delay her to wherever she was going but maybe she could help.

Summoning all of her courage, Yukari stood up and raised her hand. "Ms. Erwin!" The blonde abruptly stopped and turned to her direction. In the fast approaching darkness Yukari couldn't see her expression clearly, but the way she jogged over seemed to indicate that she wasn't in too much of a hurry to chat a little bit.

"Ah, Gu-Guderian" Erwin panted. "G-good to see you."

"And you as well Ms. Erwin."

"Just Erwin please." Yukari had been having difficulty speaking to other informally, even those she considered close friends. It was a habit she was trying to get out of but it was tough after years of having nobody she was so familiar with that she could be on a first name basis with. Then she noticed the state of Erwin's hands, her fingers were covered in bandages. What had she been doing?

"Are you in trouble?" Yukari asked worriedly but trying not to pry too much. "You seem to be in a hurry." Erwin smiled at her sheepishly.

"I might have been. Um, I was actually on the way to your house to see you." This gave Yukari pause. See her? What kind of business would Erwin have with her at this time of year, and why didn't she simply phone her?

"Was there something wrong with your phone?" She asked, trying not to sound rude. "I tried calling you earlier but I only got your voicemail." The blonde looked away, looking slightly ashamed.

"Yeah well… I turned my phone off. I didn't want any distractions while I made it." Now Yukari had to ask the obvious question.

"Made what?"

Erwin reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew a small round object, tentatively handing it over to Yukari. "H-happy birthday Guderian."

Yukari stared at the little object, carefully taking it with both hands. It was the Anglerfish emblem, the same as on their tank, sewn onto a black circle made of a much stiffer material. "Is this a… unit patch?" She asked in disbelief?

Erwin blushed slightly, suddenly looking rather embarrassed. "Y-yeah… I made it myself." Yukari now understood how Erwin earned those bandages.

"Seems like it was quite a battle." The blonde's face reddened further.

"Y-yeah it was."

Yukari smiled. "Well I… I appreciate it very much Mi- uh, Erwin. Don't worry, I don't mind it being late if that's what you're worried about." Erwin stared at her horrified.

"Wh-what? Late?"

Yukari blinked in confusion. "Y-yeah, my birthday was more than two weeks ago on the sixth. To be honest I'm surprised anyone knew at all. I… I never told anyone I don't think."

Erwin's mouth hung partly open, dumbfounded at this revelation. "But the- the Rabbit team- those packages."

"Ah those were for Ms. Takebe. Her birthday is coming up on Friday, the 22nd. The Rabbit Team is throwing a party for her and asked me to hide the presents." Erwin's face went full on red, totally embarrassed at her colossal error. She let out a cry of frustration and grabbed her head.

"Ah I can't believe it! How could I have screwed up so much! Not only did I think I almost missed your birthday, I actually did!"

"P-please don't blame yourself!" Yukari insisted. "I didn't want to make a fuss so I never told anyone my birthday was coming up. I uh.. I don't really like… the idea of… " Yukari's voice trailed off before she collected her thoughts again and restarted. "I just don't like being the centre of attention."

Erwin managed to calm down and compose herself a little, but she still wasn't able to look Yukari in the eye. "W-well I'm glad you like the patch. Sorry it's so late."

Yukari smiled. "Yes, I do like it. Even if it's late it's nice to know someone thought of me. I'll treasure it."

"I'm glad."

The two girls stood there for a moment, a long awkward silence between them as neither really knew what to say or wondered if it was appropriate to separate now but Yukari started thinking that maybe she could invite Erwin to dinner after all. It was just one person, enough that she wouldn't feel overwhelmed, and bringing someone would help alleviate her mother's concerns and hopefully any disappointment as well. It would be nice to have someone over for dinner at least once in her life right?

"Say" She began. "My mother wanted me to invite a few friends to dinner, but I couldn't get anyone to come. So…. would you be willing to have dinner with me and my family?"

Erwin blinked and tilted her head slightly before looking in the direction of Yukari's home, just down the street and then back at her. "Really? Uh… well, I suppose so; since you invited me. I don't have anyone or anything to get back to at home so I'm free."

Yukari beamned. "Good! Mom should be about finished by the time we get there." She bowed. "We'll be happy to have you for dinner."

Erwin chuckled and bowed in return. "I'll be in your care."

 **Wow eh? 2 chapters in such a short amount of time. Of course they're much shorter than the chapters I usually write for other stories which are usually between 5,000 to 8,500 words. Hopefully I can keep this up so you all don't have to wait the usual eternity you normally do.**


	3. Battle of the Bulge

Erwin couldn't recall any time she had been to Yukari's home before. Oh she had passed it on several occasions, but before starting tankery and becoming friends with Yukari, she had never really paid any attention to it. Now she was about to go inside it.

The Akiyama Family barber shop was a very nondescript building. Two stories, an exterior that was painted the same as the surrounding houses, it could easily be mistaken for an ordinary house were it not for the awning and the barber pole she wasn't sure had been there before. Maybe she just never noticed.

Now that she thought about it, was it really a good idea to have a barber shop on a school ship for an all-girls school? Were there enough men in the ship's modest population to support the business?

"The shop is always cleaned right after we close." Yukari suddenly said as she opened the front door. "So you don't have to worry about stepping on any hair."

' _Is that something most people worry about when they come here?'_ Erwin wondered, finding Yukari's statement a little strange. "I'm wearing boots, I'm not worried.

"A-ah yeah, of course, that's right." Yukari stammered. "Um please come in. You can leave your boots on in the shop and uh, there's a porch leading into the kitchen." Erwin just kept smiling. Yukari would probably only get more anxious if she made any further comments or remarks.

"The kitchen is on the bottom floor with the shop and storeroom" Yukari explained. "Upstairs are the bathroom and bedrooms."

She led her to the back of the shop and through a curtain leading to the porch she had mentioned. She took off her shoes and then stepping up into the kitchen.

Erwin propped her hand against the wall to support herself as she unfastened her boots, the smell of home cooking filling her nostrils. She thought she detected chicken in that scent but it was hard to tell. The sounds of sizzling and chopping made it sound like dinner was well underway already.

Just as she put her boots down, she heard a voice from inside the kitchen. "Ah, Yukari. Did you manage to invite anyone?" Erwin couldn't help but grin. This would be perfect timing. She stepped out from the porch into the light of the kitchen, smiling confidently at the woman speaking to Yukari.

"Sorry for intruding."

The woman dressed in a simple pink apron over a white blouse and light brown pants could only have been Yukari's mother. Erwin wasn't sure how to describe the feeling she got from her except that her aura oozed motherhood. That kind gentle face, that smile like sunflowers, those warm loving eyes; Erwin found it reassuring on a level beyond even the subconscious, primal perhaps.

She bowed. "I'm Erwin. Guderian was nice enough to invite me to dinner. Thank you for having me."

Yukari's mother seemed to take no notice of Yukari's soul name, or if she did she took it in stride. Perhaps with a daughter like Yukari it was a skill she was forced to pick up. She simply bowed in return and welcomed her.

"We're happy to have you." She said. Then, as if on cue, a man appeared from the stairwell leading up to the second floor. He had to be Yukari's father. He gawked upon seeing her and then dropped to his knees, his face almost touching the floor.

' _Is he kowtowing to me?'_ Erwin asked herself. ' _Or is he one of those guys wanting me to step on him?'_

"Ah, th-thank you very much for coming and for taking care of my daughter." Erwin had to take a step back from him, unable to help but feel awkward.

"Ah, no it's fine. Guderian doesn't need a lot of effort on the part of other people to be considered a friend." ' _Ugh, that doesn't sound like me.'_ She thought. ' _I sound like some anxious junior officer dealing with her CO for the first time.'_

"Dad, get off the floor and help me with dinner." Yukari's mother scolded. The man flinched before he scrambled to his feet and nearly bumped into Erwin as he hurried to his wife's side to help cut the vegetables.

Yukari cleared her throat and gestured for Erwin to follow her upstairs. "The washroom is upstairs." Erwin followed her lead up the steep steps to the second floor, averting her eyes just enough that she didn't look up Yukari's skirt. Even though they were both girls it was still an expected courtesy, although she had heard things about the Naval Studies girls.

' _I wonder if it's anything like the initiation rituals in some former elite units.'_ She recalled the terrible tales of the Canadian Airborne Regiment that led to its disbanding. ' _Although there was the possibility that the mefloquine was to blame'_.

"Sorry about Dad." Yukari's voice snapped Erwin out of her thoughts. "He gets nervous when I bring people over. I guess he's not used to me having friends."

Erwin grimaced at Yukari's comment and thought back to her father's reaction, the way he hurriedly went into a stance of humility and overzealous amiability. She smiled and couldn't help but think of the way Yukari herself tended to act in an overly modest and respectful manner, even with her friends and especially around those she admired. The thought made Erwin grin. ' _I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'_

"Don't worry about it. You're not the only girl with a dad you know." ' _Although I don't think my father would do something like that.'_

Yukari didn't respond as she began washing her hands, perhaps mulling over what she said, but she was taking a bit too long about it and an awkward silence descended between them. Erwin wondered if she should perhaps try some small talk to help Yukari relax a little, but she had to try and avoid any sensitive or awkward topics.

"So Guderian, did you know about the big mil-surplus market event in town that happened today? I was surprised not to run into you there." There was a pause as Yukari shut off the tap and dried her hands.

"Well I did know about it, and I would have gone but... " Her cheeks flushed a light crimson. "I have already spent all my allowance at the event in Yokosuka." She looked a bit ashamed to admit that, but Erwin only smiled.

"Yeah I get that. I actually spent pretty much all my money today too. Heh, I hope I have enough to get by till my next allowance." She rubbed the back of her head and then took Yukari's place at the sink to wash up.

"Well hopefully this dinner will help with that." Yukari said. "Mother was expecting more than just you so don't hold back and eat as much as you want." Erwin laughed.

"Bold thing to say since you've never seen me chow down."

"I doubt you eat more than Miss Isuzu." Yukari smirked. "I've seen her eat herself full, and the amount Mom made would be beyond even her so I don't think I need to be worried."

Erwin flicked her hands of water and wiped her hands on the towel. "Well I suppose I can't match Hana, but I bet Caesar could." Yukari raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Really? I don't think I've ever seen Miss Caesar eat more than anyone else normally."

"Well, she's a bottomless pit when she pigs out. I'd pit her against Hana any day." Erwin chuckled. "But don't you dare tell her I told you that." Yukari smiled and brought her index finger up to her lips.

"Deal. Now let us go down and see how much of a dent we can put in mother's dinner." Erwin nodded.

"Indeed. I would be all too happy to pillage your table. It will be as if the Mongols were attacking the city of your dinner table!"

"Or Hannibal ravaging the Italian countryside during the Second Punic War!" Yukari added.

"Let the slaughter begin!" Erwin cheered.

"Yeah!"

The two girls hurried down the stairs to begin the pillaging. Had they looked through the window before leaving, they would have noticed the distant flashes of light in the sky, illuminating the fast approaching clouds.

Yukari thought that dinner had started well. The only hiccup had been Erwin forgetting to hang up her cap and jacket, something she didn't often do, but that had only been a minor infraction and her parents had taken it in stride, understanding perfectly.

The meal had certainly been something and Yukari was expecting to be eating it over the next few days as leftovers. She had indulged a lot more than usual, eating more than one plateful of the large meal her mother had tirelessly prepared, even so, she had barely put a dent in the large spread on her own. When she had finally stopped she felt a bit guilty seeing how little of the meal had been touched and regretted not being able to invite more people.

Meanwhile, Erwin had been doing her best to try and eat as much of the bountiful meal as she could manage, perhaps feeling a bit pressured as the only guest to eat more, managing to put away three full plates with relative ease. She looked like she was just finishing up when Yukari saw her father hand her a bowl of chicken.

"Please have some more Chicken. There's plenty left." Yukari winced and stared at Erwin and her father with a painful grimace. Could he not see that she was already full?

"Ah, certainly, I'd be happy to." Erwin graciously accepted the bowl and began eating out of it.

Yukari felt a stab of guilt as she watched Erwin slowly put piece after piece of chicken from the bowl into her mouth. Now she no doubt felt pressured to finish everything in the bowl because it had been given to her. How long would this continue? Would Erwin keep eating until either the meal was all gone or she exploded?

' _I can't just leave her on the battlefield unsupported!'_ Yukari thought to herself. She grabbed the nearest bowl and started to eat out of it, refusing to let her comrade fight alone.

For a brief moment, their eyes met and a feeling of almost supernatural camaraderie and understanding passed between them, both completely understanding what the other was doing. It reinvigorated both of them despite the building pressure in their guts and they continued with renewed vigor. After those bowls, they cleaned up the remaining items on the table that had the least food on it, just for good measure.

Yukari groaned and slouched in her chair, rubbing her stomach gingerly to ease its aching. She felt so full and more bloated than she could ever remember feeling. She wasn't sure but it felt like her stomach was even slightly distended, but she reassured herself that it was just her imagination.

Yukari had hoped that after finishing that they would get a reprieve, but no sooner had Erwin put her chopsticks down that Yukari's father again offered her more, this time a plate full of deep fried prawns.

Yukari watched Erwin's face fall just for the tiniest of moments before she forced a smile and accepted the plate. "Thank you very much. I'll eat them heartily."

Yukari could hear the hint of strain in Erwin's voice and knew that it wasn't only due to the forced smile she was wearing. If her stomach ached anything as much as her own, she was probably in a fair bit of discomfort.

Yukari was starting to get worried that this cycle wouldn't end until either there was no food left or Erwin exploded. Regardless, until she thought of a way out of this she couldn't leave her behind. Yukari grabbed the nearest plate of gyoza and began eating them one by one.

"Please don't push yourself." Yukari's mother told Erwin gently. "You don't want to get sick." Yukari silently thanked her mother for finally getting involved and giving Erwin a way out, though she wished she'd have done it sooner.

"Oh well, it's all just so good and you made so much I'd feel guilty not eating as much as I could." Erwin replied. "But I suppose you're right. I'll stop after I finish this." Yukari felt relieved, especially since she wasn't sure that she herself wouldn't explode if she had to eat more after finishing the gyoza, and then her father tried to interfere again.

"Oh, there's no need to hold back." He said. "You're our guest; eat as much as you want."

' _No Dad, no!'_ Yukari sobbed inwardly, wishing he would stop being so overly hospitable.

"No, she shouldn't push herself." Her mother reiterated. "Don't worry about the rest, we can have it as leftovers."

Both Erwin and Yukari shared a collective sigh of relief and quickly polished off the last of their plates. When all was said and done, the two of them had managed to eat half the meal on their own, not bad considering it was a meal meant for at least eight.

Yukari grunted as her stomach ached, even small movements amplified the pain in her gut. Erwin looked to be handling herself a bit better at first but the effort it took her to finish the meal showed. Her face was flushed a soft red and her skin had the slight glisten of light perspiration as her body worked overtime to digest the abnormally large meal.

Yukari felt a new kind of respect for her. Erwin had eaten a fair bit more than she had and didn't seem much worse off. Even if it was only an act, the fact that she was able to put up a front at all was impressive.

"Thank you for dinner." Erwin said, relief seeping into her voice. "It was incredibly delicious." Yukari's mother bowed her head graciously.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." And then her father spoke up again.

"If you loved that, you'll love dessert!" Yukari's mouth hung open and Erwin's expression turned into one of panic. Did he not realize that she was full- no beyond full by now? Erwin's stomach would probably rupture if she ate any more.

Yukari's mother was about to berate her husband when Erwin actually answered. "Um… what's for dessert?" Yukari and her mother stared at her incredulously. Was she seriously going to eat even more with how full she was?

"It's… it's a marble cake." She replied, a little stunned. "It was freshly made today."

Now Erwin appeared conflicted, no doubt deciding whether it was worth it to shove still more food into her already tightly packed gut or to resist the temptation of delicious sweets and save herself from a severe stomach ache and possible internal damage.

"We-well I-" Erwin was suddenly interrupted by a deafening boom from outside that caused everyone around the table to all but jump and the lights to flicker. Yukari watched as her mother stood up and hurried towards the window to look out.

"Oh, my! Where did this storm come from? I don't remember anything on the radio about this."

"Might be a freak storm." Her husband suggested. "That can happen this time of year you know."

She turned around and looked at Erwin with a regretful expression. "Erwin, perhaps you should spend the night here. It wouldn't be a good idea to try and go back home in this weather."

Erwin frowned and looked at Yukari briefly with a somewhat worried expression, and then looked back at her. "Well, I wouldn't want to impose on you-"

"Oh no think nothing of it. Really it would be more bothersome to let you go home in such a storm."

"That's right!" Yukari added, wincing as pain lanced through her middle. "It's fine, I don't mind having you stay over." She then brought her voice down to a whisper. "And anyway, do you feel like you could walk very far right now?" Erwin grimaced and shut her eyes painfully, bringing a hand down to her stomach to try and soothe it with a gentle rub.

"I suppose not" she admitted quietly. "I-I'll be in your care then."

Her mother smiled. "We'll be happy to have you. I'll go get the the spare futon out and I'm sure we have an older set of Yukari's pajamas that you can use as well."

"Ah, thank you."

Erwin and Yukari both watched her leave and then looked at each other. They shrugged and smiled, clearly not having expected this but they were okay with it. They were friends after all. It actually made Yukari a little excited and giddy. She had never had a sleepover before. And then, her father stood up from his chair and said: "While she's doing that, I'll go get the cake."

Yukari let out a soft whine and she and Erwin slumped in their seats. She gave the blonde an apologetic look but Erwin only smiled back. "I-I won't lose this battle. This is my Bastogne."

The historical reference made Yukari smile and she chuckled briefly before the pain in her gut prohibited any more. As she rubbed her stomach to try and nurse some of its pain and felt how distended it was now, she suddenly realized how humorous and apt it was that Erwin made a reference to an event that took place during what the Americans called: 'The Battle of the Bulge.'

Things only got more humorous when her father returned with the cake, a small warning on the side saying: "May contain nuts!" The two teens laughed through gritted teeth and prepared for their last stand.

 **Couldn't resist the Battle of the Bulge joke. This chapter took much longer than I wanted it to take due to IRL interference but it's up now and I hope you enjoy it.**

 **I don't know much about Japanese cooking if I'm honest but watching "Sweetness and Lightning" really helped with that.**


	4. Displays of Ambition

Chapter 4: Displays of Ambition

Erwin couldn't recall a single time in her life when she felt worse. Sweat dribbled down her face, her cheeks were flushed and her gut felt like it was on fire, and it felt like she was trying to throw up but couldn't. Dammit, why did she have to be so greedy?

Erwin had already gotten stuffed from eating huge helpings of Yukari's mother's excellent dinner and then her father had offered her cake, and being the shameless, impulsive sweets eater she was, she couldn't refuse. No matter how full she was, she had to have just a little bit.

A little bit had turned into one large piece of cake which had been intimidating at first but the first bite had seemed to soothe her aching middle so she thought it would be alright and continued. By the end of the piece however, the pain had returned and worse than before, but her greed, or ambition as she prefered to phrase it, got the better of her and she asked for another she was deeply regretting that decision.

Her stomach felt like it would rupture at any moment, distressing noises emanated from her middle. She had a hand on her gut, rubbing it gently to try and ease the pain. It felt quite hot, sticky with sweat, and the bulge was quite firm as well. She didn't want to think about how far it was sticking out, she would worry about that later.

Erwin had to all but force her mouth open as she slipped another forkful of cake inside. She groaned softly as she slowly chewed. The cake was still delicious, but it was a small consolation to her tortured stomach.

' _This is like El Alamein for me. I've overextended and my ambitions were finally too great.'_ She stared at what remained of the piece of cake on her plate and wondered if she should continue. Would this be the breaking point? Would this be the point at which she would break against the enemy? On the other hand, if she could just beat this little bit, she would take the prize, she would do what most would have declared impossible.

Erwin swallowed the last of the cake in her mouth and grunted as her esophagus forced it into her densely packed stomach. She then ventured her fork forward to grab the last piece and she heard a gasp.

Yukari stared at her from the adjacent side of the table, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. She seemed shocked that she was going to actually try to finish the cake in spite of how full to bursting she clearly already was. Erwin heard her inhale as she brought the last bit of cake up to her mouth. Yukari's eyes were wide with a mix of disbelief and fear, but then her expression changed to one of determination and she held up one fist in a show of support. Erwin managed a strained smile and then slowly and painfully opened her mouth.

Just opening her mouth had taken a large amount of effort, as every cell in her body seemed to be screaming at her to not do what she was attempting. She even started to have second thoughts as the fork slowly began to pass the line of her pearly white teeth.

She glanced over at Yukari, perhaps hoping that she would stop her from what might be committing suicide, but Yukari, if anything, seemed to be encouraging her more. Her eyes glistened, the determination on her face as great as ever and her fist was white knuckled. ' _Ah how very like her to cheer someone on.'_ She stole a quick glance at Yukari's father who was holding up a food tray like a shield and cowering behind it; not encouraging.

Erwin shut her eyes tightly and closed her mouth around the end of the fork, touching the cake with her tongue. The wet appendage seemed to jerk away from it, like a hand from a hot surface. Erwin fought through it, wrapping her tongue around the sweet and began to chew it thoroughly. She had to try and make it as digestible as possible.

' _The enemy is in my mouth'_ She told herself. ' _I'm chewing him up, I'm devouring him!'_ Thinking about it that way actually gave her conqueror's heart a little thrill.

Erwin steeled herself as she prepared one last almighty swallow, the final thrust of her attack that would either make her or break her. Literally in this case. She swallowed bravely, feeling the lump of cake travel down her throat and she gripped the arms of the chair tightly, waiting to find out what would happen.

Her stomach let out an ominous groan that reverberated around the kitchen, causing both Yukari and her father to flinch anxiously. Erwin clutched her stomach and hissed through her teeth as the pain in her stomach increased, and then slowly subsided. The blonde let out a sigh of relief and moaned softly as she leaned back in her chair and tried to massage her aching stomach.

"Yo-you did it!" Yukari exclaimed. "That was amazing Ms. Erwin!"

"Ugh, just Erwin please." Erwin felt both elated that she had won, she had accomplished her goal. She had taken the fortress but now she had to struggle to hold onto it. She felt like her stomach was trying to force the food inside it right back out the way it came but didn't have the strength to. It felt so tight and hard; and it ached horribly.

Yukari's mother peeked into the kitchen and seemed relieved to see Erwin still intact. She stepped inside and began to gather the empty dishes. "Well, you girls certainly did your best."

Erwin covered her mouth with one hand. "I-I'm sorry for making such a pig of myself. It was all so good I couldn't stop." The woman chuckled.

"No no, I'm happy that you enjoyed my cooking so much. Besides, it would be a shame for so much to go to waste, and leftovers only keep for so long anyway." Erwin managed to smile, more of a grimace really, and uncovered her mouth.

"Well I was happy to. Um, can I help you with the dishes?" She tried to stand up but a sharp lance of pain wracked her midsection, eliciting a painful grunt and forcing her to remain seated.

"No it's alright. You're our guest, please just relax." Erwin nodded, grateful to be allowed to remain seated for the moment.

Yukari gave her a compassionate smile and Erwin managed to return a small grin of her own. She appreciated what Yukari had done, eating along with her, despite her own fullness; trying to lend her support. She doubted she would have managed to eat nearly as much without that. Then again, maybe that would have been better since she wouldn't feel like she was about to explode like she was now.

Yukari tried to get up to help her parents with the dishes but her face contorted with pain and she almost completely stopped halfway up.

Her mother put a firm hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down onto her chair. She said nothing but gave Yukari a look that seemed to convey her intentions to her offspring and Yukari obediently remained seated.

The two girls spent roughly an hour sat at the table, nursing their overburdened bellies, making small talk and encouraging each other between moans and groans.

When the dishes were finished, Yukari's mother went over to her daughter and helped her up to her feet. "Why don't you girls go upstairs while we finish cleaning up. I'm sure you'd like to lie down anyway. I put the old jammies in the washroom for when you girls have a bath." Yukari nodded and walked towards Erwin.

"Here, let me help you." Yukari gently grabbed Erwin's arm and slowly tried to pull her up. Erwin inhaled sharply through her teeth and held her eyes firmly shut as her middle felt like it was being ripped open, causing Yukari to stop. "Are you okay?"

Erwin grunted. "Ungh, j-just a little more slowly please."

"Ah right, sorry." With delicate care, Yukari slowly began to lift Erwin up out of her chair. While Erwin was again wracked with pain she clenched her jaw and consciously prevented herself from grunting or crying out. Eventually though Yukari's got her to her feet and they slowly staggered towards the stairs.

Erwin let out a tiny burp as the movement jostled her stomach contents. She put one hand on her gut, as if to try and keep it steady and then gazed up the stairs with a mournful expression. "Guderian, I don't think I'm gonna make it." She went weak at the knees, forcing Yukari to hold her up. "Go on without me, I'll only slow you down."

"Never!" Yukari wrapped a strong arm around Erwin's torso between her breasts and belly, holding her up securely. "A good soldier never leaves a man behind." She glared up the stairs as if it were a towering foe and took a deep breath to steel herself. "We can do this."

Yukari hauled them both up to the first step and they immediately ran into a problem. The stairway was rather narrow, too narrow for them to comfortably fit side by side together. This forced the two of them against each other, causing their sides to rub against the walls, making it more difficult to get up each step. This squeezing together also aggravated their sensitive and aching stomachs, eliciting more pain, compounding their problems.

Yukari grunted as she fought off the first pang in her tortured midsection and then looked at Erwin who seemed to be faring no better. Her face had lost most of its original colour, looking rather green, and her free hand was gingerly rubbing her middle. Yukari looked at the top of the stairs and then back at her.

"I think they only way we're going to do this is in one almighty thrust through the enemy centre." She said. Erwin glanced at her, looked at the top of the stairs and then looked her in the eye with renewed determination.

"Yes, one last mighty push; then we will be Moscow." Yukari grinned and nodded.

"Yeah." The two girls stared at the top of the stairs and then nodded at each other.

"One, two, three go!" The two girls cried out as they forced themselves up the stairs at a steady rate. Their stomachs cried out in agony and the girls' faces contorted with pain and effort as they hauled themselves up the stairs, supporting each other and almost screaming as they fought through the pain and effort.

They reached the top of the stairs and Yukari guided them towards her bedroom, pushing through the curtains of her doorway and with the last of their energy, wobbled over to her bed and lowered themselves onto it.

Erwin whimpered and lay on her side, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She was in a lot of pain. Yukari's own stomach ached terribly, prompting her to lay on her side facing Erwin, but her pain was at least tolerable and she doubted Erwin could be much more susceptible to pain than she was.

"Are you okay?" She asked through heavy breaths.

"I'll… live…" Erwin grunted. "I think it's getting better now that it's had some time to digest. Ooh I hope I didn't give my stomach a charlie-horse." Yukari managed a weak chuckle.

"Ah no I think you'll be fine. Thanks for that by the way. Mom really appreciated you eating so much of her food, even if she didn't want you to push yourself so far, she's flattered; really."

Erwin managed a small smile. "Yeah well, it's been a long time since I had such a good home cooked meal. My mother isn't the greatest cook and at home here we usually only cook battle food so not exactly gourmet." She huffed. "I think that if I ate here every day, I wouldn't be able to fit through the door in a month."

Yukari laughed. "Well you haven't tried eating some of Mom's 'healthy meals'. But yeah, she is a really good cook and I'm normally not a big eater unless it's something I especially like. I'm amazed how much you were able to eat. You ate almost twice what I did."

Erwin groaned and rolled into her back. "It surprised me too; believe me." She pulled the hem of her shirts up to her chest, exposing the distinct bulge in her middle. It was noticeably flushed and glossy with sweat. It moved up and down slowly with each of the blonde's laboured breaths.

Erwin reached around to her left thigh and unfastened her skirt, letting it slide a couple inches downward and let out a long sigh of relief. "Oooooh that's better. Skirt was digging in a little bit." She rubbed her lower abdomen where the skirt's waistband had left a red mark, helping to ease the pain.

Yukari decided to follow suit, unfastening her skirt and feeling the relief come with the dramatic reduction in pressure on her middle. A hand gently rubbed the top of her tummy, but it wasn't her own.

Yukari cooed softly as Erwin's hand gently massaged and soothed her aching gut. It did wonders to ease the pain and discomfort. She felt the tension in her body subside and her stomach muscles unclench and relax.

The fennec haired girl grinned cheekily. "Awww you have such a cute little tummy Guderian. The fruits of your conquests. As expected of you." Yukari's cheeks warmed at Erwin's teasing and affection. Having another girl give her a tummy rub was more than a few steps out of her comfort zone, a leap into an area of physical intimacy she had never been to before, with no frame of reference. The only thing she thought that was anything similar was how Mako would sometimes touch or rub Saori's breasts, despite there being no physical relationship between them. Was this what was called 'skinship'?

Swallowing her nervousness and fighting the redness in her cheeks, Yukari tentatively stretched out her hand towards the small dome sticking out of Erwin's middle. Her hand flinched when her fingertips brushed the sticky surface of Erwin's swollen middle and her face flushed with renewed verve but she heard no protests from Erwin and so she tried again, this time placing her entire hand on the swollen dome.

It was sticky from Erwin's sweat and it reminded Yukari that they needed a bath. She also noticed how firm her stomach was, much firmer than her own it was actually rather hard. No wonder her stomach hurt so much; it was packed tight. It was a lot bigger than hers too, by at least two times.

' _Going to make it hard for her to do crunch-ups_ ' she thought. She started to rub gentle circles across Erwin's skin, eliciting gentle moans from her friend.

"Ooh, that feels nice." Erwin sighed, a slightly glazed look in her eyes, and Yukari's face flushed redder, but she couldn't stop now or it could lead to something even more awkward. Maybe some light conversation would ease the tension.

"I-it seems like the bounty from your own conquests are even more substantial than my own. You very nearly over extended." Erwin managed a weak chuckle.

"Yes, I would even say I did overextend. Fortunately I had reliable allies." Yukari smiled back.

"Well that's what friends are for. Ah, we should probably have a bath while we still have the energy. If we stay here much longer, we'll fall asleep. You can go first."

Erwin chuckled. "You think I'll fall asleep before you?"

"Well your body has been, and is, working harder."

Erwin shrugged. "Point taken." She grunted and tried to sit up, her face turning red as she fought against the bulge in her middle. Yukari slowly sat up and then gently pulled Erwin into a sitting position, eliciting a small burp from her and then helped her up to her feet.

"Do you need help changing?" Yukari asked tentatively. She felt like she might be infringing a bit on Erwin's sense of independence and was worried about offending her. On the other hand, Erwin really couldn't do a lot by herself right now; not in the state her body was in.

Erwin sighed heavily. "Yes, I suppose I will have a lot of difficulty doing that on my own. Just bathing myself will be a chore at this rate." Yukari opened her mouth to speak but Erwin raised an open palm. "I would still rather bathe myself. At least permit me some shred dignity Guderian." Yukari grimaced and rubbed the back of her head.

"Sorry."

Erwin smiled. "Well maybe we should just go in the bath together. It'll speed things up and it might be our last chance to talk before we fall asleep." Yukari blinked.

"Huh, oh yes, talk. Yes that sounds good. Um, what do you wanna talk about." Erwin laughed and then winced as the action wracked her body with more pain.

"Uh, let's just see what comes out of our mouths. Sometimes it's best not to have a strategy." Yukari chuckled.

"Funny thing to hear coming from you. Alright, I'll take you to the washroom."

One thing that Yukari had always been thankful for about her home was it's ample washroom. In addition to the large rectangular bathtub, it had a separate shower nozzle mounted on the wall next to it, with a small stool underneath and positioned in line with a mirror.

It had taken a lot of care but Yukari was able to get Erwin undressed and help her into the tub of warm water.

"Ooooh this feels so nice." Erwin sighed. "I can feel my body finally relaxing."

Yukari smiled and began to undress herself. "My mother left the pyjamas here in the bins. She anticipated us having a bath before bed."

"Well it is fairly normal." Erwin agreed. "Still, mothers sure are amazing with how they can sometimes anticipate everything their children or husbands do, or where they put things. With such a skill you'd think there would be more female generals in history."

Yukari shrugged. "Well at least tankery has made female commanders more prominent."

"But they don't have the beneficial experiences of motherhood and marriage." Erwin pointed out. "There is a difference that is made, even if she sees her soldiers as her children."

Yukari smiled and scratched her cheek. "Like Takebe-san." Erwin laughed lightly, not experiencing pain this time.

"Yes, I suppose so. The Rabbits do seem more like her little ducklings don't they? Imprinting on her; although I've noticed Azusa seems to be looking more and more at our captain."

Yukari winced. "Y-yes I have noticed that. W-well I suppose since she is a first year, she would be one of those who could lead the team after Lady Nishizumi graduates."

Erwin raised an eyebrow as she examined Yukari's downcast expression, the sagging in her shoulders, the way she turned her head away and seemed to be peering deeply into her own thoughts.

"Guderian." Yukari was stirred from her inner thoughts and looked at Erwin who beckoned her into the tub. Yukari grimaced and made her way over, stepping carefully into the warm bath and lowered herself into it, careful not to bump her guest.

"What's troubling you?" Erwin asked. Yukari's mouth fell open slightly but she quickly recovered with a little shake of her head.

"N-nothing, really nothing. It's just that…. When I think about how much fun I've been having since I joined tankery, I… I worry about what happens after we graduate. I-I've never really made any plans about my future and I'm not sure what Lady Nishizumi is planning now either. Ah, I'm sure she could get a sports scholarship to university with a good tankery program but as for me…." She pulled her knees up to her chest and shrunk a little. "I'm not sure I'll be able to follow her."

Erwin chuckled. "Well you know, maybe you shouldn't. If you just keep following her, you'll just end up staying in her shadow. I'm sure she'd rather you tried to become all you could be. Perhaps she would even like to battle you one day."

Yukari gawked. "Me? No! I could never challenge Lady Nishizumi! S-someone with my abilities… challenging her would be an insult!" Erwin shook her head.

"Yukari" she began, grabbing the other girl's full attention with the rare use of her real name, "it might not be my place to say this, but don't you think that you're being too modest? It's nice that you're so loyal to Miho but you automatically agree with everything she says simply because she's the one who's saying it. Loyalty is great but it is sometimes a subordinate's duty to suggest alternative courses of action, give their commander more information and ideas to work from."

Yukari frowned at her, not quite a scowl but certainly less than friendly. Erwin didn't shrink from her position though, she felt like what she needed to say needed saying. It was more to force Yukari to talk about the underlying issue than to antagonize her, but they hadn't quite reached that point yet, so Erwin went on.

"You are a very capable leader and Miho trusts you implicitly. The fact that she relies on your knowledge and infiltration techniques is proof of that." She smiled and hoped that the little bit of levity would help alleviate any feelings of hostility in her companion.

"But you see how Azusa is growing? Lately she's been asking all sorts of questions, going up to Miho with questions about formations, different strategies and tactics; even different aspects of operating tanks." Yukari's frown now formed into a full on scowl and her eyes dropped from looking at Erwin to mildly glaring at her feet under the water.

"While I understand her curiosity, I feel like she could grasp the basics from talks on the internet or from books instead of taking up so much of Lady Nishizumi's precious free time. We second years have exams and things to study for after all and she has the team's administration to worry about too." Had Yukari still been looking at Erwin's face she would have seen the befitting fox-like grin spread across her face as the kernel of an idea formed in the blonde's mind.

"Indeed, she's even starting to follow her around wherever she goes like a puppy. Always eager to do anything to help or please her; always asking questions, even trying to take on some responsibilities regarding the operation of the tankery team." She leaned her head against her hand and awaited Yukari's response, the gist of it already predicted in her mind.

"It's so presumptuous of her!" Yukari protested. "She's only a first year and yet she believes that she can act so close to Lady Nishizumi and even goes as far as telling her that she can take over some of the administrative and training duties for her. It's outrageous, thinking that she can already partly run the team when she's so junior!"

She looked up at Erwin expecting her to chime in but the blonde was just smiling at her, an eyebrow raised. "Funny", she said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you sounded jealous." Yukari's mouth fell agape and her face flushed a bright crimson.

"J-j-jealous? No, impossible, I.." She fidgeted and looked down at her feet again, her voice becoming quiet. "I have no reason to be jealous..."

Erwin sighed. "I think it's best you be honest with yourself. You liked being the first person Miho usually went to when she needed help with something regarding tankery, but now she has her new protégé she wants to raise so you feel a bit neglected, like a kid after a new baby enters the family."

Yukari frowned and her lips formed into a pout. "I don't think that's right." Erwin waved her hand dismissively.

"Well you're an only child so maybe you don't understand, but basically I think you feel displaced by her. Like your position or role has been annexed." She permitted herself a small chuckle. "Ambitious little rascal isn't she?" Yukari snorted derisively and turned her head away.

Erwin sighed. "Look, it's not just regarding the tankery team, I think you need more ambition in life. You need dreams Yukari and the drive to pursue them. Don't just be content to live in the shadows of great people, try to become a great person yourself." She chuckled. "You're mother's a great example. She was ambitious enough to cook all that food and we were ambitious enough to eat as much of it as we did."

"Ah, but ambition can go too far." Yukari countered, gently prodding Erwin's bloated gut under the water, eliciting a grunt from the blonde.

"Touché" she replied. "But I think it might be worth it. Sometimes you just wanna find out how far you can go." She rubbed her stomach with both hands, feeling the smooth and stretched skin around it. "And it can feel amazingly satisfying, knowing that you were able to go so far, that you could accomplish so much and be everything you could be. I could name some generals from history but it might be more effective to use Miho herself as an example. Look at what she accomplished after getting out from her sister's shadow. Sure she had to be led and coaxed along but now she's her own person, not just another Nishizumi."

Yukari swallowed inwardly. Unlike Erwin, she knew just how much Lady Nishizumi had risked, like almost being disowned by her mother. Knowing that secret and having been with Miho during the entire journey through the tournament, being elected to command the temporary Char B1 crew during the battle against Anzio, even doing the reconnaissance against Saunders, among others, it all made her feel special, like she was someone irreplaceable to Lady Nishizumi.

She had no objections to Azusa succeeding her once she graduated but she couldn't help but feel like she was sucking up to Lady Nishizumi somehow, and it irked Yukari to no end, but what irked her even more was that it didn't seem to bother their captain at all. Lady Nishizumi seemed all to happy to bring the freshman girl under her wing as her new right hand, and as Erwin said, displacing her in the process. Maybe she was a little jealous after all. She had been feeling a bit directionless of late, but what dreams did she have?

"What are you going to do?" Yukari asked her companion. Erwin blinked

"Me?"

"Yes. What are you going to do after graduation. What are your dreams?"

Erwin scratched her head. "Well I'm going to sound like a bit of a hypocrite but honestly I'm not sure. I want to do something but I'm not sure what yet. Tankery is nice but I don't want it as a career. I was maybe thinking…" Yukari blinked in surprise as the normally unfappable Erwin suddenly reddened with embarrassment and was unable to make eye contact.

"Ah, you can tell me!" Yukari insisted, taking Erwin's hand between her own. "I won't tell." Erwin smiled.

"W-well it's nothing bad really it's just…. well I was thinking of maybe becoming a…. Well I wanna… bake cakes." Yukari's eyes went wide in shock.

"You… you wanna be a pastry chef?"

Erwin shrugged. "I guess so. I'm still not sure. I do love baking when I get the chance but I don't get to do it often." Yukari tilted her head confused.

"Why's that?"

"Because the other girls argued that it doesn't 'suit my image'; but actually it's more like they can't resist eating it so they told me never to make it."

Yukari chuckled. "Aha, I see. I do hear that dieting is rough."

Erwin laughed. "Well Oryou's boobs didn't get that big on their own, and Saemonza's so skinny, it shows if she eats so much as a potato chip." Yukari laughed too, and the conversation shifted away from the earlier serious subject and into jovial small talk. All at once it seemed like the troubles of their future and the pain in their tummies floated away.

* * *

 **Well this is a bit long and I'm worried it might have meandered a bit too much in the middle but I think this chapter was worth it. I hope you enjoy it and hopefully you won't have to wait as long for the next and final chapter.**

 **Originally this was only going to be a one-shot but like most of my "one shots" it tends to grow. See you next time and thanks for reading.**

 **~Rogue**


	5. Dreams of the Morning and Tomorrow

Yukari awoke to the morning sun shining down on her through the window, it's warm rays working its primal magic to stir her body to action. She sat up in bed and stretched with a yawn, working some of the sleeptime kinks out of her body. Tossing off her covers she swung her legs out over the side of her bed, suddenly remembering at the last moment that she was not alone in her room and made sure to be careful where she placed her feet.

Erwin lay in the spare futon on the floor, snuggled inside it so that only her shoulders and head were exposed. The rays of the sun seemed to dance in her hair, giving it a golden glow that seemed to fill the room. Her face had a look so tranquil and peaceful that it almost didn't look like Erwin. Taking it all in, Yukari couldn't help but find what she was seeing as anything less than beautiful and was reluctant to wake her.

' _Well it is summer break and she had a rough night.'_ Yukari thought to herself. ' _She's a guest too so no harm in letting her sleep.'_

Yukari carefully stepped around Erwin and slipped her feet into her slippers, quietly tiptoeing out of the room and heading downstairs.

The smell of freshly cooked eggs filled her nostrils and helped wake up the last few dozing holdouts in her brain, bringing her up to full consciousness.

She arrived in the kitchen where her father sat reading a newspaper and her mother was tending the rice cooker. She noticed her first and gave her a smile every bit as warm and radiant as the sun.

"Good morning sweetie. Did you sleep well?"

Yukari smiled back at her and wandered towards her chair at the table. "Yes Mom, it was the most peaceful sleep I've had in awhile."

"Oh good. Hungry for breakfast?"

"Yes please."

As her mother turned to pile some food onto a plate, Yukari brought a conscious hand down to her middle to feel how much the swell in her stomach had subsided. Yukari's fingers glided along her abdomen, feeling it through the soft fabric of her pyjama top until she found a very slight rise. So it was still there but barely noticeable. Somehow she doubted Erwin was going to be as fortunate.

Yukari's breakfast landed in front of her, a healthy dose of rice and two sunny-side up eggs. "Itadakimasu!"

As Yukari dug into her food, her mother started to prepare some more. "Yukari, is your friend still asleep?" Yukari nodded and swallowed.

"Yes, I thought I should let her rest. I don't think she had as pleasant a night as I did." Her mother sighed.

"No, I can't imagine she did. Make sure you look after her today alright?"

"Yes Mom."

Yukari ate quickly and despite her huge meal last night she didn't feel any more full than she usually did after breakfast, which she took as a good sign. She brought her plate to the sink and then excused herself to check on Erwin.

The blonde was still sleeping soundly in the futon, her head tilted at an angle that prevented the sun's rays from shining in her eyes. Yukari did want to let her sleep but on the other hand she didn't want Erwin to miss breakfast either.

She glanced over at her alarm clock which indicated 07:45. That wa a late morning for both of them, being used to getting up by five AM for tankery practice and Erwin was an early riser by nature.

"She really must have had a hard time." Yukari mumbled to herself, kneeling down next to the dozing girl.

Her eyes were drawn once again to Erwin's shimmering golden hair, the way it painted everything close to it in an ethereal glow. She'd never noticed it before, but Yukari found Erwin's face to have a fascinating angular beauty to it; quite unlike most of the other girls on the team who tended to have softer, rounder faces from what she could recall. Looking at her more closely, Erwin had a kind of predatory grace to her facial features, and yet she also looked so peaceful right now, so harmless and inviting.

Something unknown drew Yukari's hand down onto Erwin's sun warmed head and her fingers touched her silken, golden hair. Yukari was surprised; she had expected Erwin's hair to be firmer and rougher, especially considering its shape, but it was actually very soft and much more manageable than her own. She freely admitted that her hair was hardly a good example of good hair care and tended to be rather unruly at times, but that didn't take away from the surreal delight she felt running her fingers through Erwin's short brilliant locks.

Erwin stirred slightly and let out a long breath, causing Yukari to pause. ' _Wait a minute, what am I doing?'_ She asked herself incredulously. Why was she casually running her fingers through another girl's hair?

She gazed down at Erwin's face, seeing the contentment on it and swallowed. Something primal inside her didn't want her to stop what elicited such a lovely expression. She couldn't discern from where within her this strange feeling came from but she suddenly became filled with a feeling of serenity and compassion. This strange desire to simply make the sleeping girl comfortable; this odd feeling compelled her to continue gently caressing Erwin's sun-warmed hair, feeling the warmth in every strand.

She continued to puzzle over why she was still doing this and enjoying it so much. She had never done this before to her recollection, so she didn't understand this fierce compulsion to.. well… she wasn't sure what it was. She couldn't describe it as anything other than wanting to care for Erwin somehow. Suddenly it dawned on her.

She had seen Saori do this with Mako many times. The sleepy girl would lay her head on Saori's lap and the ginger girl would happily stroke her head and soothe her, all while having a smile on her face, even as she complained about Mako's laziness.

Yukari couldn't help but smile a little herself as she recalled it. Saori and Mako seemed closer than friends, more like sisters, but perhaps even closer than that since they were the same age. Yukari wondered what the word was for someone closer than a friend, closer than a sibling, but not having a romantic relationship. Was that what she and Erwin were becoming? Was that why she felt this way, or was this simply a spur of the moment thing brought on by her earlier feelings of loneliness?

"Is she still asleep?" Yukari's heart seemed to stop mid-beat as the other voice registered, realizing that there was a third presence in the room. Her mother was standing just inside the doorway, carrying a breakfast tray, smiling at her.

Yukari's face coloured to a bright vermillion, realizing what she'd been caught doing, but her mother's smile was reassuring. "It's alright Yukari dear, I'm not going to misunderstand my own daughter so easily. Besides, this is a normal thing for girls to do."

Yukari tried to swallow her supreme embarrassment, unable to meet her mother's gaze as she placed the tray on her desk. "Y-yes t-two of my f-friends do thu-this quite often." Yukari managed to squeak.

"Ah I see. They must be close." Yukari nodded.

"Yes, they seem to be." Yukari's gaze turned inward, even as they seemed to fall back on Erwin's picturesque face. ' _Normal…'_ She thought. ' _If this is normal then I should know more about this, but I don't know what this means, what these feelings are. But then, I've never had friends before either.'_

Yukari's mother knelt beside her and gently wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. "I'm happy that you have finally found someone that you're this close to. You've made so many friends in the past year, and it's made me so happy for you."

Yukari leaned her head against her mother, embracing her mother's compassionate gesture and feeling a reassuring sense of security.

"Mother." She began. "What do you call it when a girl is more than friends with another girl but they aren't lovers. I mean, there's no romantic feelings, you just care about them a lot." Her mother giggled softly.

"I think that is just what you call a best friend sweetie." Her mother patted her on the head gently. "You've never had one before I suppose."

"No, Yukari replied quietly. "I suppose not."

"Well you have one now, so make sure to treasure that and don't let your friendship be broken."

"I won't." Yukari replied. Her mother nodded in satisfaction.

"Well then, I'm off to help your father with the shop. I'll leave you two alone."

"Thank you Mom." Yukari called as she left. She brought her gaze back to Erwin who appeared to be stirring a little more. Yukari wasn't surprised; after all, Erwin was normally an early riser and the smell emanating from the breakfast tray on her bed was probably helping to wake her. The blonde rolled onto her back and let out a soft groan before slowly opening her eyes to the world.

Yukari smiled down at her. "Morning." Erwin blinked in confusion, probably just remembering that she had slept over but eventually she smiled back.

"Morning." She groaned and slowly extracted herself from the futon, sitting up and revealing the yellow pyjamas she borrowed. Yukari had worn those pyjamas back in middle school so they were a bit small to begin with. Add in the bounty of Erwin's huge meal with the effects of puberty, and it was an especially tight fit.

The pyjama top had to be unbuttoned below the collar to accommodate Erwin's assets and only two buttons were fastened between her chest and midsection to accommodate her stuffed gut as well, which much to Yukari's surprise had barely gone down at all. Considering how immodest the outfit seemed on her, perhaps it was best that she slept through breakfast.

Erwin yawned and stretched, working the stiffness out of her body. "Mmm something smells good." Yukari chuckled and stood up, heading to her desk to pick up the breakfast tray, placing it over Erwin's lap.

"Mom brought you up some breakfast. Even with everything you ate last night I doubt you wouldn't still be hungry for breakfast." Erwin laughed and patted her stomach.

"You bet! I've spent all night making room for your mom's breakfast. If it's half as good as dinner, these plates are gonna be so clean you won't even have to wash em. Itadakimasu!"

Yukari smiled as Erwin dug into her breakfast. She certainly seemed to enjoy her mother's cooking. "Careful, or you won't fit down the stairs." Yukari smirked.

Erwin laughed. "A small price to pay for a meal like this; although, I'd probably take up most of your floor if that were the case." Yukari grimaced, imagining Erwin so fat that she took up a large portion of the floor.

"It would be hard to try and fit you into the STuG."

Erwin quickly downed the last of her rice and then gave Yukari a wry grin. "I could be a great mascot though. I am in Hippo team after all." Both girls burst out laughing. Yukari couldn't remember the last time she had such a pleasant morning.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ah, good to be mobile again." Erwin stretched one arm up and leaned back, exposing a sliver of midriff between the waistband of her skirt and her uniform shirt. Tucked under her other arm was a large container of leftovers from last night's dinner that Yukari's mother had given her.

Erwin was on her way back home after the overnight stay, and Yukari was going with her as an escort and because Erwin invited her. Yukari was happy to accept Erwin's offer, having little else to do and virtually no other friends around at the moment.

"At least it doesn't show." Yukari told her. "Unless of course you plan on eating all of those leftovers in one sitting."

Erwin laughed. "Nah, I think I'll go easy on my tummy for the next little while. This should last me the few days, at least for dinner." She sighed. "I'm kinda sad that I won't have your mother's excellent cooking after that but I guess I'll just have to learn to cook better myself and worry less about the…. authenticity of eating at the front. I know Oryou has been wanting to cook much fancier meals, she's the only one of us whose soul name is a woman after all."

"Aha, I guess that's true." Yukari nodded. "Don't worry though, I'm sure Mom would be all too happy to feed you again."

"Ah yes well for the sake of my wardrobe, we better make it a once in awhile kind of thing." She tugged at the waistband of her skirt which was still snug around her middle. "I still need to fit in the STuG for at least another year and a half."

"I think it had more to do with you overindulging than with Mom's cooking directly." Yukari said wryly.

"Well it was directly delicious, so I couldn't help but eat as much as I could." Erwin grinned back. 'You don't know how good you have it."

"Well I've never been a picky eater." Yukari replied. "I like rations just as much."

"Not exactly a gourmet are we?" Erwin placed a hand on Yukari's middle, feeling the tiny rise of her stomach behind the steel-like abs. "I bet those muscles would miss your mom's cooking."

Yukari blushed. "I-I suppose I wouldn't be in quite as good a shape without Mom's good food." She admitted. "Which reminds me, were you planning on going to a culinary school to become a baker?"

Erwin removed her hand from Yukari and blinked in confusion until she recalled the discussion they had last night. "Ah, right. Well I was thinking about it but I'm still not sure that's what I want to do for a career. I do enjoy baking a lot and I wish I could do more of it, but there are other things I want to do too. Like maybe be a historian, or maybe engineering."

Yukari smiled. "Well if you like, I can ask my mom if you can borrow our kitchen once in awhile to practice baking."

"Are you sure?" Erwin asked, a little surprised. "I mean I'd be grateful but I don't want to be a bother."

"Oh it's fine." Yukari assured her. "I'm sure mom would be happy to see you more often and help you out."

Now it was Erwin's turn to smile. "Well then I'll be sure to take you up on that. I'll provide my own ingredients of course. What about you then? Have you decided what you want to do?"

Yukari paused and grabbed her chin thoughtfully. "Well I had been thinking about it after we talked and I was thinking I should start with some more immediate goals, maybe something significant but also outside my usual comfort zone so that I may develop. My mother has been trying to get me to be more involved in school life while I'm still… uh, in school."

Erwin chuckled. "So what did you have in mind."

"Well, I was thinking of maybe joining the Student Council for next year."

Erwin's eyes went wide and she stared at Yukari, not believing what she had just heard. "What? Really? That doesn't sound like you at all! And you said that so confidently."

"Yukari blushed. "Well, for a while I've been thinking and wondering what I can do for next year. The student council loves Lady Nishizumi for everything she's done, but there's no guarantee the next one elected will. So I want to make sure that she and the tankery team will be well supported. I'm not sure exactly what I can do but I want to do what I can."

Erwin laughed. " _That_ sounds more like you." She playfully ruffled Yukari's hair. "Why not try to be elected president then! Go for the top!" Yukari grimaced.

"No, I think that's a bit much for me. I'm best in a support role. I appreciate your faith in me though." Erwin wrapped an arm round Yukari's neck and yanked her close.

"I have nothing but faith in you Guderian, and friends should support each other."

Yukari's cheeks coloured and she swallowed. "Especially best friends right?" Erwin smirked and gave her a friendly shake.

"Especially best friends."

* * *

 **Finally done!**

 **I hope you're all not disappointed that this chapter was more on the short side. This was a fun little story to write and I think my writing in really improving. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved and followed, but this is the end of the story. There may be a sequel at some point in the future but probably not anytime soon. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
